Responding to how he might work with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy if he becomes speaker and whether he will miss Speaker John A. Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid chose to focus on the latter, recalling for reporters his first meeting with Boehner at his weekly news conference Tuesday.

“The first meeting I had with John Boehner, I could tell he was nervous,” Reid said. “So I said, ‘Go ahead and light up.’ And he did and he’s been lit ever since — every meeting I’ve gone to.”